


something i can turn to (somebody i can kiss)

by booksofold



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, i feel weird tagging her as 'kwan' so hopefully there's a legitimate canon name soon, one shot series, these can all be read as stand alones because they don't really relate to each other?, they belong together okay, they're gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-12 12:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10490667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksofold/pseuds/booksofold
Summary: No matter the universe, Kimberly and Trini find their way.Alternatively: Three Ways Kim & Trini Could Have Happened (And One Way They Did).





	1. But she said "Where do you wanna go?"

**i.**

It’s her third school in as many years.

The boys are young enough that making friends is still easy. Trini knows she makes it harder on herself, has built up those walls so high that no one can climb over them, but it’s just…safer that way. Her heart has been broken once before and the pain is enough to last a lifetime.

Besides, they’ll probably be out of Angel Grove before the school year ends.

Her father promised Diego and Daniel that they would at least graduate from middle school in Angel Grove, but he’d promised Trini the same thing in Mariner Bay. And Reefside. And Ocean Bluff.

So, forgive her if she’s not entirely convinced.

The guidance counselor had handed her a series of pamphlets and a map and sent her on her way. She’d missed all of first period and most of second. Trini was going to take her time getting to History. What did she need to know about the Presidents this year? Absolutely nothing.

Trini comes to a halt in front of locker 307 and, after a quick glance down at the note card the counselor had given her, plugs in the combination. When she tugs on the handle, the locker remains shut. Grumbling to herself, she repeats the combo. _87 left. 71 right. 81 left._ The door doesn’t budge.

A headache is building behind her eyes and Trini spins the built-in lock one last time, swearing to herself that if this doesn’t work, she’s just going to walk out of the building for the day. It would be a sign.

But when she yanks on the handle this time, the door swings open, fast –and collides with someone on the other side with a dull _thud_ and a squeaky “shit”.

Trini dumps her bag on the floor immediately and ducks beneath the open locker to assess the damage (the irony of giving the short girl a top locker is not lost on her). “God, my bad, I couldn’t get it open. Are you okay?” The string of words is barely punctuated, a rapid fire jumble that gets lost in her throat as she crouches down to see just who she’d nearly knocked out with her locker door.

She’s possibly the most beautiful girl Trini’s seen in this town. Granted, there’s not a lot to go on, but everything from that leather coat and pink choker to the sleek black hair to the pout upon her lips is beautiful. And Trini knows she’s staring and way too close before the stranger’s gaze fins her, so she rocks back on the heels of her sneakers. By the way the girl’s looking at her expectantly, it’s obvious she must have said…something and that Trini’s just missed it by staring too long. “Uh. What?”

“I said, I’ll send you my hospital bill.” There’s a pause that goes on just a little too long while Trini scrambles for the already covered textbooks that must belong to the other. “I’m kidding. It’s fine.” She’s already climbing to her feet while Trini hands over the fallen books. Her eyebrows pull together as she studies the new girl, and Trini can only imagine what’s running through this girl’s mind. “I’ll see you around, I guess.”

And with a swift turn, she’s gone.

The bell rings. Students come pouring out of the adjacent classrooms, their voices echoing against the walls, and Trini is swept up in the current of bodies just as she snaps the locker shut.

And she is instantly reminded of why she hates high school so much.

-

It turns out that Biology is not much of a better start than History would have been.

By the time Trini gets oriented and finds Mr. Lange’s classroom, the bell had already sounded again. Trini seriously considers skipping out for the twelfth time today, but settles for reaching for the doorknob and trying to slink around to the back of the classroom unnoticed. Maybe Mendel’s beans are so enthralling that the teacher will let it slide.

No such luck. As soon as her worn sneaker squeaks against the scuffed tile, Mr. Lange is turning back from the chalkboard to survey her. He narrows his eyes behind his glasses, pushes them up his nose, and leans forward across his desk to glance at a sheet of paper there before wiping chalk from her fingertips and then clapping them together. “Class, it seems I’ve forgotten to take role again,” a series of unamused chatter clues Trini in that this is a common occurrence in Biology class. “And we’ve got a new student today. Her name is Trinity-“

“It’s Trini,” she says automatically, cursing her reflexes as every head except for the boy snoozing in the back row turns towards her. Trini can feel her face heating up at all of the eyes on her and though she tries her best to look past them, at the clock mounted on the far wall, something –or rather some _one_ \- catches her eye.

It’s the dark-haired girl she’d nearly concussed earlier. Her head is cocked to one side and she’s got a pencil in her left hand and she’s looking at her like she might have grown a second head.

“Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?”

This isn’t Trini’s first rodeo. She doesn’t move from her place at the side of the room and tucks her hands into the pockets of her hoodie as she recites the rehearsed line in a monotone. “I’m Trini. I’m originally from Arizona but my dad’s in the Army so we’ve been all over. And I’ll probably be gone before this class is over.” She gets one chuckle, but mostly, there is simply the ripple of whispers as she creeps to the back of the classroom and throws herself into the only vacant seat.

They’re commenting on her hair, her clothes, her name, her accent (what accent?) and Trini simply pulls out a notebook and a pencil and starts scribbling away while Mr. Lange takes roll.

She only glances up at one name ( _Kimberly Hart_ ) and then back to her notebook. Nothing he’s going to say will be as interesting as that girl’s name.

-

Months pass.

And not in that broody, _it-feels-like-it’s-been-months-because-I-hate-it-here_ kind of way. Months pass and _Papi_ doesn’t accept any transfers. The twins make friends and take over the YMCA’s soccer program. Her mom is killing it selling real estate and won’t stop questioning Trini on how many friends she’s made and whether or not she’s going to that Tai Chi class Mrs. Hale mentioned.

Trini still hates school. She suffers through it because her dad would never let her leave the house if he found out she was skipping and because you can’t get a decent job without a diploma these days.

But she has long since stopped ogling Kimberly Hart in Biology class.(

Since their first encounter, they’ve said a grand total of six words to each other, and that includes a forced partner project in week two.

She’s pretty sure Kim doesn’t even know that she exists, much less her name.

And yet, when she’s leaving school for the day and on her way to her bike, she sees the outline of someone wearing pink doing laps at the track and hesitates.

Before her brain catches up with her body, Trini’s halfway to the football stadium. She’s on the side with the chain-link fence, so she hitches her backpack upon her shoulders and reaches for the fence. The metal’s cold upon her skin so she scurries up quickly, perching on the top for only a second before dropping down onto the grass on the other side.

Trini’s not sure what she’s planning to do, here. She decides on her way to the bleachers that she’s just going to climb the steps and leave the other side, because sitting around watching someone you barely know run endless laps in tiny shorts and a pink tanktop is not only weird but slightly disturbing.

She’s halfway there, foot on the bottommost step of the bleachers, when the voice rings out. “Hey!” Kimberly’s breathless and, frankly, so is Trini. Her shoulders hunch like she’s just been caught doing something wrong, though she doesn’t immediately turn around. When she does, it’s when she’s sure her face is rearranged into a neutral expression.

“Hey,” she echoes with a lift of her shoulder. “What’s up?”

Kim’s got her hands on her knees, hair piled up on her head, a few wispy strands escaping from her ponytail. And she looks...curious. Her brows are pulled together and her lips are pursed as if she wants to say something, but doesn’t know quite what. Trini’s got half a mind to slip away while Kimberly’s having an existential crisis, but her feet feel rooted to the ground. Finally, Kim opens her mouth to answer. “Can I have a sip of your water? I’m, like, dying.”

Normally, Trini would comment that it seems dumb to take a run without bringing at least a water bottle, but her tongue feels like sandpaper and her body’s moving before her brain can think again. She’s reaching back for the bottle and handing it over before the words can even form. “Just don’t finish it.”

Kimberly offers her a grateful smile before tipping the bottle back and taking a long sip. She hands it back with a smile, stretches her arms over her head, and turns to go. “I’ll see you around, Trini.”

And then with a swift turn, she’s gone.

Okay, so maybe Kim _does_ know she exists.

-

The cafeteria is probably Trini’s least favorite place on campus.

Everyone has their ragtag group of friends. She spies Jason Scott with the rest of the football team, Kimberly’s sitting between two blonde cheerleaders, and even that Billy kid has his own group of nerd friends. What does Trini have? Trini has a damp peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bruised apple, and a bag of chips.

She’s going to go and eat outside. At least that way she doesn’t have to awkwardly squeeze in between two cliques and, as a bonus, she can put on her headphones and listen to her music.

She’s part of the way through her sandwich when someone nearly steps on her.

Trini’s eyes snap open and she’s gotten out a few choice curse words before she realizes it’s Kimberly. The words die in her throat. She’s about to ask what’s wrong, but then the blondes and some beefcake are stomping over, too, and Trini’s lunch is a mess beneath the tree she’d claimed as her one spot at Angel Grove High.

Trini doesn’t know who the girls are, but she’s seen Kim and the guy together before on multiple occasions. All three voices are loud enough that she can hear the garbled mess over her music, so Trini yanks her headphones off of her head just in time to catch “-dirty slut,” coming from Ty’s mouth. Adrenaline hits and Trini’s on her feet so fast she misses the fact that Kimberly’s already got her hand drawn back. Trini’s well-placed kick hits Ty square in the groin just as Kim’s fist collides with his face and he drops like a fly.

With the mountain between them gone, Kim and Trini share a glance. Kimberly is pissed, though that expression is melting into something like surprise. Trini just shrugs. The cheerleaders behind them are busy filming everything.

“…I can handle myself, you know.”

“Sure. I didn’t know if blonde and blondie were going to jump in, though.”

A beat. “Thanks, I guess.”

Trini shrugs again. She’s about to say something when the principal arrives. Once again, she swallows the words and settles deeper into her jacket.

Her dad might still kill her yet.

-

They both get detention.

Trini is also grounded, which she ignores by sneaking out of her bedroom window nightly after dinner. The house is suffocating enough without being forced to stay.

She’s already sitting near the back of the room as the rest of the delinquents filter in. The usual suspects are there: bullies, troublemakers, the guy from Bio who sells all the kids weed.

There are a smattering of surprises, though. Billy is tinkering with something at the front of the room. Jason’s there for his stunt with the bull. And Kimberly arrives, nearly late, and takes the seat to Trini’s left.

At first, Trini thinks it’s just because of the alternatives. The only other open seat is between the bully who’s obsessed with Billy and Ty himself, so Trini busies herself with drawing shapes in permanent marker on the whites of her sneakers. As she’s switching feet, a folded up piece of paper lands on her desk. A glance to her left reveals that Kimberly’s on her way up the stairs and presumably to the bathroom.

Trini unfolds the note and chews her lip. On it, only one word is scribbled in neat handwriting. _Bathroom._

It only takes her a second to choose. She’s on her feet and heading up the steps with the excuse of “Period cramps!” when Mr. Lange tells her someone’s already using the ladies’ pass.

Predictably, he has nothing to say to that.

When she reaches the closest bathroom, Kimberly’s already sitting on the ledge of the window that overlooks the front lawn, a cigarette in hand. “Careful, sweetheart. No one’s going to want to kiss you if they know you smoke.” Kim rolls her eyes and takes another drag, flicks the ashes onto the floor. Trini stops an arm’s length away from her, hands in her pockets, and looks expectant. “Did you just want company while you set off the smoke alarms or…?”

“I thought you might want to share.” Kim does offer her the cigarette and while it’s not really Trini’s vice (at all; she hates the smell of it because her _Papi_ smokes and it clings to all of his clothes and the whole house), she finds herself reaching for it anyway.

She takes a puff, coughs, and hands it back. Kimberly laughs and the sound sends a tingle down Trini’s spine. It’s not even like Kim’s laughing at her, either. She promptly puts the cigarette out and stomps it with her boot. “I don’t really smoke, either. My boyfriend –well, ex- does.” Her shoulders rise and fall and Trini tries not to think about how they just took drags from the same cigarette.

“Why’d you step in with Ty anyway?”

Trini scoffs and pulls herself up to sit on the counter beside the sinks. “Because he’s an idiot.” That seems to satisfy Kimberly, because she doesn’t dig into it more. “Hey, why’d Principal Wells’ office when he cut me loose anyway?”

Something flashes across Kimberly’s face but it vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared, the easy smile replacing it. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”

 Truthfully, Trini would jump off a cliff if it meant Kimberly Hart smiled at her like that again, but she’s trying to get over this pointless crush, so she simply replies with “Depends. What is it?”

-

They come back to detention staggered. Trini heads down the steps first after assuring Kimberly she looks great and that she can at least cut straight. (The joke either went completely over Kim’s head or she was too worried about Trini’s haircutting skills to find it funny).

She sits down, feet propped up on her desk, and goes back to her drawing.

She doesn’t even have to look up when Kimberly makes her return. The entire room bubbles with approval at the new haircut. Trini ignores the thing clawing at her chest when Kimberly and Jason’s gazes meet.

_Just because she’s speaking to you now doesn’t mean she cares._

It’s easier that way.

-

“Do you need a ride home?”

Trini’s a step from the sidewalk and if it was anyone else she would pretend that the headphones she’s wearing are already on and she can’t hear them.

But that’s not anyone. That’s Kimberly in her brand new car and she’s leaning out the driver’s side window and looking at her from behind a pair of sunglasses. It might have been a courtesy thing, but the look on Kim’s face is almost…hopeful? Trini doesn’t let herself read into it too much, but she does agree to the ride, climbs in the passenger seat, and throws her backpack in the back seat.

For a few moments, it’s quiet. But it’s not the uncomfortable, thick silence of strangers. They’re not friends, not really, and they barely know each other but…there’s something comforting about Kimberly that Trini hasn’t felt in _years_ , in handfuls of hometowns before Angel Grove. She puts her feet on the dashboard and Kim shoots her a look but the little uptick of her mouth gives her away.

Then a Spice Girls song comes over the radio and they both start singing at the top of their lungs at the chorus and Trini’s complaining when Kimberly kills the engine and the song flames out.

“Hey!” Trini glances out the window and realizes that she hasn’t even told Kim where she lives and that the Krispy Kreme they’re parked outside of definitely isn’t it.

“I need my caffeine fix. You coming?”

She is. Trini trails after Kimberly into the café and orders a small coffee and, after peering into the glass case, a chocolate éclair that is _way_ bigger than she originally anticipated. “Okay, how can you even call that coffee? You put, like, eight creams in there and four sugars.”

“I like my milk with a splash of coffee,” Kimberly answers with barely a pause. She’s also somehow gotten a fork and spears a piece of Trini’s éclair before Trini can even take a bite.

“Hey!” Kimberly grins and it brightens her entire face. The playfulness of the quick jab of Kim’s fork to steal another piece before Trini can pull the plate away makes them both laugh.

“Fine. We’ll split it.” Trini cuts the pastry right down the middle and takes a sip of her (black) coffee while Kim devours her half in a series of quick bites. She works on her coffee while Trini eats, the quiet blanketing them once more. It’s not until there’s only one bite left that Kim goes for it.

Her hands are fast and she gets the piece of éclair on her fork before Trini can react, but Trini’s pretty fast, too. Her fingers curl around Kim’s wrist, keeping her from being able to pop the piece of pastry into her mouth. Their eyes meet and there’s a challenge there. Neither of them are prone to turning down challenges. Kimberly reaches around with her free hand and Trini actually stands up to wrangle the fork out of her hand. It ends up dropping to the table with a clatter, though Trini has the bite in her mouth and her fists raised in victory.

“Gotcha,” she teases, sinking back into her seat and wrapping her hands around her mug. Kim’s lips have pursed in a pout and she’s still leaning forward, eyes on the now empty plate. “Oh my God. If it’s _that_ distressing to you, we can get you one to go.”

Kimberly’s eyes jump to Trini’s and that smile curls her lips again. “Deal.”

-

This becomes routine. Every Saturday, they go to detention and pass notes back and forth and then go and get donuts. They swap paying for each other’s coffee and get a different pastry each time.

Finally, the morning of Trini’s last Saturday detention arrives. She gets dressed, grabs a to-go cup of coffee and a piece of toast from her brother’s plate, and heads out the door to hop on her bike. She should be relieved to have her little bit of freedom back, but, honestly, Trini’s a little worried that their routine might get thrown off by the lack of forced shared space. After all, aside from the car rides home and their weekly coffee not-dates, it’s not like they spend a lot of time together.

Trini’s worked herself up to asking Kim to hang out by the time she’s settled into her normal seat. The rest of the kids slowly filter in.

Kimberly doesn’t show up.

-

All through detention, worry coils in her gut. Did something happen to Kimberly? Why wasn’t she here? But the teacher had bypassed her name on the roll call, so maybe it was a scheduled absence. Trini’s gaze flicks to her phone. They’ve shared sporadic texts since the incident with Ty, but as she unlocks the dull screen, she finds nothing.

So, once they’re released, Trini takes matters into her own hands. She knows where Kim lives. She’s never actually been inside, but they’ve stopped once or twice on their way to the café. She hops on her bike and pedals in the opposite direction of home, ignoring the buzzing of her cell phone and the rain pelting her back except to pull her hood over her head.

Trini makes it across town in record time and dumps her bike in the Harts’ front yard as she races up the front walk. Kimberly’s car is in the driveway but there’s no other vehicles there. She knocks quickly on the door and isn’t surprised to find Kim’s mom at the door. Trini knows she looks a mess, hair askew, clothes drenched, cheeks red from cold, but she offers what she hopes is a tentative smile. “Hi, Mrs. Hart, is Kim home?” The woman tosses a look over her shoulder, as if pondering letting this virtual stranger inside her home. “We have Biology together,” she tries, hunching her shoulders.

“One minute.” Mrs. Hart disappears behind the closed door and Trini shifts her weight from one foot to the other, wet socks squishing in her shoes. She’s shivering, arms wrapped around herself, when the door opens once more and Kimberly, exhausted and sad, is there.

“Hey.” Trini’s forehead wrinkles in a frown as she studies the dark circles beneath Kim’s eyes, the way-too-big sweatshirt she’s wearing, the sag to her shoulders. “I just wanted to check on you. You weren’t at our designated spot this morning, so…” She’s going for a joke, but her voice doesn’t even hold its usual sarcastic tone. It just falls flat seeing this girl who merely a week ago was smiling enough to brighten the whole of Krispy Kreme look so damn sad.

Kim blinks and shakes her head, a shaky hand reaching out to run over her forehead. “Shit. I meant to text you.” Something in Trini’s chest flutters at this, but she pushes it aside for now. “My grandma was in the hospital and things got intense.” She lets it hang there and Trini knows, sees the way Kimberly’s jaw twitches as she tries to hold it in, hears the tremble in her voice.

“Oh, Kim, it’s fine. I was just worried.” She doesn’t say _I’m sorry for your loss_ or _My condolences_. Those things ring hollow and flat. She knows. What Trini does say is “…do you want to go throw some shit off the school roof?”

She honestly doesn’t expect Kimberly to agree, but she expects the laugh that bubbles forth from Kim’s throat even less. It makes Trini smile involuntarily, a small, but genuine grin that turns just one side of her mouth upwards. “That sounds like fun.”

-

It’s surprisingly easy to get into Angel Grove High on the weekends. They leave the main hallway open in case anyone wants to study, which never happens, but Trini’s heard that people fuck in the stacks all the time. The corridors are dark by now and she automatically reaches for Kimberly’s hand as they creep along the hallway. It’s not even that difficult to get onto the roof. Kim lends her a bobby pin and uses her phone as a flashlight while Trini picks the lock and then they’re there, all open air and stars overhead. It makes it easy to breathe again.

For Kimberly, too, it seems, because she’s busy doing a couple of cartwheels once they’re on the roof. “Careful, cheery,” Trini warns, eyeing the edge and her companion and back again.

Kim lands it perfectly and flashes her a grin in the dark. “Don’t worry. I got this. So, what do you have in there?”

Trini walks over the edge and sits, legs dangling over the end and digs in her back. “These are from Goodwill, so don’t feel too bad about it.” She hands Kimberly a stack of dishes and leans back on her elbows to watch as her…friend (is that what they are now? Trini doesn’t really know and doesn’t care; she just wants to help Kim release some of whatever she’s got built up in there) launches plates onto the parking lot below.

The first one lands with a satisfying crack and Trini laughs at the way Kimberly hollers as she throws them. “You know, I just got out of detention.”

Kim looks nonplussed, as if she hadn’t realized this. “Oh my God. Why are you out here with me? Do you want to have to go for the rest of the year like Jason and me?” Trini has a visceral reaction to the mention of Jason Scott, which is really unfair because she hardly knows him. She’s just gone to enough schools to know boys like him, and her experiences had never been particularly fun.

“You just looked like you could use a release.”

Kimberly falls quiet. The arm holding the dish drops limply to her side and she’s sitting beside Trini in three seconds flat. She nudges Trini’s shoulder lightly with her own and raises her eyebrows. “You’re right, but how did you know?”

“I hold stuff in all the time, too.” Trini’s certain their reasons are different. Trini doesn’t like talking to her family because they don’t understand –her, or her struggles. For all she knows, Kimberly keeps that cheerleader mask on because she actually likes it. They don’t know each other _that_ well, even if it feels like they do.

Wordlessly, Kim hands the dish she’s holding over to Trini and Trini draws back and launches it so hard it collides with a lamp post on the far end of the parking lot. “Ten points,” she says with a smirk.

Kimberly takes the next shot. It beats Trini. They turn it into a competition.

This goes on for ten minutes before Trini reaches the grass and Kim stands up to get better leverage with the last plate. “Careful, Hart,” Trini teases, getting to her own feet. “If you don’t beat me I win.” Kimberly holds the plate like a frisbee, leans her weight back on her back foot, and lets the plate fly. It sails high in the air and then…crashes right into the only other car in the lot besides theirs.

“Shit,” they say simultaneously as the alarm begins blaring. In a tangle of arms and legs, they race down the ladder and the steps and through the hallways, clinging to each other and laughing breathlessly all the while. Sirens blare as they tumble into Kimberly’s car. As she peels out of the parking lot, Trini catches sight of a couple of half-dressed kids stumbling to the truck Kim had hit.

She can’t stop laughing.

-

They end up at Krispy Kreme.

Of course they do.

This time, Kim pays for her milk with a shot of caffeine and Trini’s black coffee and brings them and a sprinkled donut back to the table. Trini’s ready with a fork and takes a bite before Kim can even sit down. Their eyes meet and Kimberly’s narrow as she pulls the plate towards her and takes her own bite.

Their quiet is comfortable to Trini, but she thinks this is the part of the day where she’s supposed to ask. “So…do you wanna talk about it?” It sounds strained even to Trini’s ears, but Kimberly finishes the bite she’d just taken, chases it with a sip of coffee, and exhales on a long, low sigh.

“She was sick for a long time. We just had to wait for it to happen.” Her voice is quiet, sadder than Trini’s ever heard it, and she can’t help but reach across the table with her free hand to take Kim’s in hers. Kimberly reacts immediately, laces their fingers and smiles a little tearfully when Trini gives her hand a firm squeeze. “Here. I’m gonna cry all over our food.”

“Hey, it’s okay to cry, you know.” Kim nods, but contradicts herself by swiping at the unshed tears with the back of her other hand. Trini’s thumb runs lights over the back of her hand in what she hopes is a comforting way. Kimberly takes another piece. Trini leans forward to steal the bite off of her fork and then grins mischievously. Everything is normal except that they’re still holding hands.

Neither lets go.

-

“Do you want a ride home?”

Trini hesitates. She did leave her bike at Kimberly’s place, but she doesn’t really want to leave Kim alone. Not tonight. The pause makes Kimberly continue. “Or would you want to, I don’t know, stay over? My parents are going to my uncle’s to handle some stuff so…”

“Do you want me to?” Trini asks simply. Their gazes meet in the rearview mirror.

“…yeah. I don’t think I want to be alone tonight.”

“Then I’ll stay.”

-

She’s wearing Kim’s too-big t-shirt and sweat and in Kim’s bed and literally spooning Kim and that should be making her heart ricochet against her ribcage. And, under any other circumstances, it would. Tonight, though, Kimberly’s sleeping restlessly, tossing and turning, and the only time she stops is when Trini’s arm is slung around her middle and she’s pressed into her back. Then, the tossing and turning halts and Kim’s breathing evens out and it’s enough to put Trini to sleep, too.

She wakes up several times that night, though, checks to make sure Kimberly’s still asleep and content.

And, in the morning, Trini’s gone before Kim’s alarm even goes off. There’s a note on the pillow, but nothing else.

-

Kim _misses_ her.

It’s stupid. She misses the scheduled café dates and seeing Trini every Saturday morning. She misses the eye rolls and the smirks and the knowing glance they would share.

She misses the company, perhaps most of all. (She misses having someone close to her, having someone _care_ ).

She misses Trini. And Trini hasn’t been in school all week (Kimberly’s checked every day in Eng…Bio. No Trini).

The texts go unanswered, too, and Kim knows she saw at least the first one because Trini hadn’t had the _read_ receipts turned off.

Had she done something wrong?

-

“Why do you look so depressed, crazy girl?”

Normally, Trini doesn’t mind Zack’s nickname, but today she swats him in the back of the head as she climbs onto the train car he lounges on. “I had to come see _you_. That’s enough to make anyone depressed.” He laughs because it’s funny and pulls himself up to a seated position. They’ve been friends since Trini started coming out here to do Tai Chi (instead of going to that class her mom suggested) and he let her hide in the train car to avoid mine security.

“I’m serious, T, you look sad. Do I have to go tell some girl she’s a dumbass for turning you down?” There’s a little color to Trini’s cheeks even though she doesn’t speak. Zack reaches out to nudge her shoulder lightly. “Did you really ask someone out?”

He sounds so damn surprised that Trini has to answer. “No, because there’s no one _to_ ask.” Her voice does that dip it always does when she’s lying and Zack barks out another laugh and sprawls out on his back again.

“Who is it?”

“I _just said_ -“

“You _just lied_. Who is it?” Trini goes quiet, pulls her knees into her chest, and puts up those walls she’s been building for years. Zack touches her shoulder again, this time with his hand, just a feather light brush. “Hey. Whoever it is, they don’t deserve you, okay? You’re the best. Don’t let some girl tell you otherwise.”

Propping her chin on her knee, Trini turns to look at him. Sucking air through her teeth, she says “…I haven’t asked because it’s never going to happen.” Immediately, she regrets the decision to talk to Zack, but it’s been brewing for so long that she had to tell _someone,_ and he was the only one willing to listen who wouldn’t judge her –or run and tell her parents.

“Okay, first of all, that’s an assumption. Second: who. Is. The. Girl?”

“You can’t laugh.”

“Why would I-“

“Just don’t do it.”

“Fine, fine!” Zack holds his hands up in defeat and arches his eyebrows.

“Kimberly Hart.”

“Shit!”

-

“Are you gonna eat that? Kim? Say something if you don’t want me to eat your pudding cup.” Jason snatches it from her lunch tray and opens it. The spoon is almost to his mouth when he sets it –and the pudding cup- down and exhales on a heavy sigh. “What’s up, Kimberly?”

“What?”

“You’ve been staring into space for the last ten minutes.”

Shaking her head, Kim blinks the thoughts away, plasters the smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes onto her face, and shrugs. “Guess I’m just stressed.”

“About what? Mid-terms are done.”  Kimberly’s sweeping the cafeteria for the umpteenth time, knowing for a fact she won’t find Trini even if she _is_ in school today. “Earth to Kim. Is this a guy thing?” His nose wrinkles and he looks for some kind of help, maybe from the other cheerleaders…but their noses are buried in their phones. He’s forced to look back at Kimberly, who’s shaking her head.

“I can honestly say it’s not.”

“So what is it? You look like a zombie.”

“Thanks, Jace. Real confidence booster.”

“I’m just saying…”

Kim lowers her voice, exhales on a sigh, and states “I’m just missing a friend of mine is all.”

“Who? All the girls are here.” Kim gives the cheer squad a dull look and rolls her eyes.

“No one you’d know.”

“Trini.”

Kimberly’s surprised. It shows on her face and Jason smiles knowingly. “I have detention, too, you know. You guys seemed close. What happened?”

“She slept in my bed and then never came back.” Jason blinks. Kim slaps his arm. “Not like that. Long story.”

“Maybe you should, _I don’t know_ , talk to her?”

“That’d be easier if she was returning my texts.”

Jason frowns, then gives Kim’s pudding cup back. “I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

-

It’s Zack’s birthday.

She never would have agreed to this otherwise. This restaurant is nice enough that she had to trade her favorite jeans for pants without holes and the blouse she’s wearing isn’t even plaid, even if her jacket has a little bit on it. The hostess immediately takes her back to a table when she tells her the reservation is under _Taylor_ (only Zack would make reservations for his own birthday), but Zack is nowhere to be found. The chair across from hers is empty. Trini rolls her eyes and takes a seat, eyeing the menu and the candle in the center of the table warily.

Zack’s not an idiot, so she has no idea why he’s invited her here, of all places, for his birthday. She glances down at her phone and sees a text from Zack. It says _Running late. Be there soon! Order dessert first!_ Trini grumbles and orders a water before sinking back into her seat.

When the waitress comes back she does order a really delicious sounding piece of chocolate cake, though. If Zack misses his own birthday cake, that’s on him.

Her back is to the door, which is probably a good thing because she nearly jumps out of her skin at the familiar voice.

“Um. Is that seat taken?”

Trini has a second to rearrange her face before turning to look, rather blankly, at Kim. “Uh. My friend Zack-“

“Jason sent me here,” Kimberly cuts her off with a wrinkled nose and a shake of her head. “I think they coordinated this.”

At this very moment, the waiter sets down Trini’s cake. Kim’s eyes drift from her to the cake and back again. Trini sighs and pushes out the opposite chair with her foot. “Wouldn’t be dessert without you trying to steal it from me, would it?” The smile she receives is worth only getting half of the cake.

-

Trini walks Kim home.

It’s partially because her parents dropped her off here –and Jason dropped Kimberly off- and mostly because neither of them are quite ready to say goodbye just yet. They hold hands and when Kim shudders from the cold, Trini offers her her jacket.

They talk about their dumb friends and how it was actually kind of nice for them to set them up for another not-date, though neither of them says what this was out loud at all.

As they turn onto her street, Kimberly tugs at Trini’s hand and stops walking. “Why didn’t you reply?”

Trini swallows hard and chews the inside of her lip, tries to find a way to sidestep the question and ends up saying, “Why are you still in detention?” Kim doesn’t answer. Neither does Trini. They start moving again.

They reach the house before Kimberly breaks the silence. She hands her phone to Trini first, and Trini pushes it back almost automatically as a very NSFW photo of one of the blondes was on the screen. “I sent that, and a text message that _said Is that the girl you want to bring home to your mom?_ To my then-boyfriend so…I’m in trouble for more than beating Ty up.”

Trini blinks and breaks their handhold for the first time since they left the restaurant so that she can rub the back of her neck. Her eyes are on her shoes and she’s worrying her bottom lip again. She glances up at Kimberly, who looks more vulnerable than she can remember ever seeing her. “That’s a pretty shitty thing to do, Kim,” Trini says with a shrug. It’s Kim’s turn to look down, but Trini reaches out to touch her arm lightly. “But that doesn’t make you a terrible person…we all make mistakes.”

Relief washes over Kim as Trini gives her arm a little squeeze. There’s a little bit of something else there, like this conversation isn’t quite done, but Trini lets her repeat her question without more than a disgruntled sigh.

Trini takes a couple of steps away from her and slides her hands into her pockets. It’s almost like she needs some distance between them to make sure she doesn’t get hurt (again). “Look, you’re one of the only people in this town I actually like, so it’s nothing to do with you.” Kim takes a step forward. Trini takes one back. They’re doing a strange sort of dance in the street in front of Kimberly’s house. The porch light clicks on and Kim knows her parents are waiting up. She ignores them, nods to try and coax Trini into continuing. “And I’m pretty sure I’m gay and being close to you is hard when I’m trying not to lean on the crush I had on you since my first day.” The words come spiraling out almost without Trini’s consent and she clamps her jaw shut, eyes wide as she takes several more steps backward. “I…better go.”

“Trini, wait!”

She does, for only a split second, and relaxes when Kimberly sheds the jacket she’d borrowed and holds it out between them like some kind of weird olive branch. Trini takes a step forward, then another, and reaches for her coat.

And that’s when Kim grips her arm, pulls her in, and murmurs a quick “Sorry,” before ducking down to kiss her.

It’s a brief kiss, barely a peck, their lips barely touching. Trini’s barely able to return it before Kimberly’s drawing back and away, though one hand’s still on Trini’s arm, the other tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Uh, that…isn’t a problem. In case you were wondering.”

With that, Kim lets go of her and Trini is left staring dumbfounded after her back as Kimberly makes her way up the front walk and to her porch.

“Hey!” Trini calls, finally regaining the feeling in her legs and barreling towards the front door just as Kimberly is getting her keys out. “You can’t just-“ Trini never finishes that sentence. She just plants a hand on Kim’s shoulder, stands up on her toes, and kisses her again. This time, it’s a real kiss, Kim’s bottom lip between both of hers, and Trini even nips that lip as she draws away, breathless even if it was another short kiss. “You can’t just kiss someone and not let them kiss back! God.”

“You forgot your jacket.” Kimberly holds it out and Trini shrugs, taking a step back. “You can keep it. Isn’t that what people do when they’re kissing each other? Wear each other’s clothes?”

“Sometimes.”

“So…Krispy Kreme tomorrow?”

“It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first fic for this fandom (and first fic in a long time!) but i needed to write something for these two because trini is gay af and kim's not straight and have you seen the way they look at each other? hopefully the voices come more easily as this series goes on -and hopefully i can find a way to fit billy in without seeming off!- but please feel free to comment or kudo! title is from the chainsmoker's "something just like this" which is PR af and the chapter titles will also probably come from there. thanks so much for reading! i will say i did only a brief proofread in the early morning hours, so forgive any typos!


	2. The Moon and its Eclipse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where they're just fossils.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick warning that there's a little bit of parental homophobia in here. it's nothing blatant and there's not even any real dialogue, but it's implied.

**ii.**

It happens in slow motion and all at once.

There is a chorus of screams, squealing tires, and the shriek of the train’s horn.

The lights are blinding. Their mingled heartbeats are so loud that she can’t tell which one is her own. And the girl in the front seat is clinging so hard and fast to her hand that she’s not entirely sure she’ll have circulation in that hand once this is over…assuming they survive.

There is a crunch. A yelp. And then silence.

Red and blue dance in her peripheral vision.

Then, everything goes dark.

-

By the time Kimberly returns from her trip to the bathroom, the others have all arrived. Jason catches her eye as she descends the stairs with a brand new and self-inflicted haircut, but Kim’s practiced ignoring the people who stare at her for years now. She crosses the room and throws herself into her seat, plans already forming to waste the day away listening to music.

Then, someone else enters.

This girl doesn’t garner nearly the same reaction from the other students. In fact, Kim is the only one to look up from what she’s doing, and that’s only because the tardy girl’s bag knocks into her desk and spills coffee all over the tabletop…and Kim’s phone.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going,” Kimberly snaps, meeting the stranger’s gaze for the first time.

She’s…new, Kim thinks. She definitely doesn’t look familiar. That askew beanie perched on her head is clearly a misguided fashion statement, since it’s nearly seventy degrees outside. And she’s got scuffed sneakers, a plaid button-up tied around her waist, and a faded band t-shirt on. Whatever statement she’s making, Kimberly’s pretty sure she’s never seen this girl before in her life.

“I’m sure you can afford a replacement. Isn’t that last year’s model, anyway?”

 Kim’s eyes narrow and she’s just about to react when Mr. Lange pipes up. “Katrina G-“

“Trini’s fine.”

“Don’t be late next week.” The girl – _Trini_ \- gives the teacher a mock salute before throwing herself into the seat next to Kimberly. She tosses a smirk her way while she plants a pair of oversized headphones on top of her head.

“Have fun with that workbook, Princess.”

-

On Monday, Mr. Lange decides to split the class up into pairs for a lab about green beans. Kimberly would much rather sneak off to the bathroom for a smoke, but since she just began her life sentence, she stays put and prays to whatever gods exist that she won’t end up paired up with Ty or Rebecca or, even worse, Amanda.

“Kimberly Hart and…” There is a moment where the teacher glances out at the class almost playfully before he zeroes in on…someone. “Trini. That will work.”

 _Who the hell is Trini?_ The name pings around in Kim’s head while she glances idly around the classroom for her mystery partner. From behind her, someone piles their textbooks onto the table she’s sitting at and bodily edges Jason out of the other seat.

It’s that girl from detention, she realizes as Trini settles into her seat. How long had she been sitting in the back of this class?

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to break your new phone and I’m actually pretty good at Genetics.” Kim must look confused because Trini breathes out on a long sigh, turns in her stool to face her, and leans in. “Don’t look so surprised. I don’t exist only in detention.”

“I just…didn’t know you were in this class.”

“Been here a year.” Trini shrugs and flips open her textbook to the chapter on Medelian Genetics. “I’ll tell you what. We get this stupid assignment done and you can go do whatever it is girls like you do and I’ll go back to my music.”

“Deal.”

-

It’s almost like she’s following Trini everywhere.

Angel Grove is a small town, though, and she can’t be surprised that they both frequent the same (single) coffee shop, shop at the same drug store, or show up at the library at the same time to study around mid-terms.

It is a little weird to see her up here, though. Kim lives just on the other side of the mountain and has been hiking the trails for years. She knows Zack Taylor hides out up here doing God knows what and she’s even heard Billy Cranston digging for fossils in the night more than once. Trini is more careful about her activities, though, or at least less easy to catch.

Jason, on the other hand, could cause a rockslide with all his yelling.

Now, she’s actually follow Trini as they sprint across the mine field, trying to outrun several security trucks on foot. Kim’s not sure how they all got to this point. One second, the five of them were standing in front of a giant glass wall holding some weird gems and the next, sirens were blaring and they all scattered in different directions.

“You really are following me now.” Trini’s voice is a little breathless, but Kim can almost _hear_ the smirk in it. It’s annoying.

“You know this place.”

“Yeah, I do. Come on.” Trini’s got her left hand and Kim’s picking her way across the rocks, following in her footsteps and not daring to throw a look over her shoulder at the cars chasing them. “Do you trust those guys?”

“Who? Jason and the boys? I wouldn’t go that far…”

“Well, their van’s coming this way.” Kim squints down at the road and sees a mini-van swerving from side to side, the back door open. With a quick nod, Kim agrees and they veer off course, gaining speed and getting tangled up in each other as they reach the road.

Jason reaches out of the moving vehicle to haul Kim in first and something like worry is building in her stomach as she stands at the opposite side of the door to help haul Trini inside. Once they’re all in the backseat, Jason closes the door with a slam and they settle onto the bench seat.

“The door ajar light went off,” Billy says conversationally from the driver’s seat.

“That’s because the door’s closed, Billy.” Trini laughs at this and it makes Kim laugh, too, and it sounds a little bit hysterical. Soon, all four of them are laughing. When something slams into the top of the van, it only makes their peals of laughter louder. Jason opens the door and pulls Zack inside like he does this sort of thing regularly (Kim thinks he and his idiot friends probably _do_ ).

The sirens are still howling and the security vehicles are closing in. The whine of a train whistle cuts through the giggles.

“If we can make it over the tracks, we’re golden,” someone (probably Jason) says.

“I got this.” This is definitely Billy. Kim’s smashed between the other boys in the back. Trini must have moved to the passenger side at some point. They’re still holding hands. Had they ever let go in all the chaos? Kimberly knows they must have, but the warmth and weight of it is comforting, somehow, despite her heart hammering somewhere in her throat.

“You got this.”

“He’s got this.”

“I hope he has this.”

“He doesn’t have it.”

-

It all happens in slow motion and all at once.

The train clips the van. Billy _almost_ had it, but the passenger side gets clipped hard enough that the vehicle goes cartwheeling through the air. Only Billy has a seatbelt on; the rest of them rattle around the cabin like rag dolls. Kim’s still between Jason and Zack and they must cushion her because when the flashes of blue and red arrive and they’re all extricated from the vehicle, they tell her she’s very lucky.

They’re all lucky. A smattering of bruises and a few broken bones between the four of them.

Wait.

One. Two. Three. Four.

“Where’s Trini?”

The question hangs awkwardly in the air and Kim’s on her feet instantly, despite the warnings from the EMTs. Her first few steps are unsteady and her left ankle screams in pain with each step, but she pushes through it. The adrenaline from the escape and the crash has faded, but a new surge has just kicked up. She can hardly feel it.

There are two ambulances here. The boys are sitting with their heads close together on the back bumper of the one Kimberly’s just climbed out of. The other is already flying out of the quarry, blue and red lights spinning, sirens wailing.

Kim’s heart sinks to her stomach. She turns back to the others. “We have to get to the hospital.”

-

That is easier than expected, because Billy’s got a concussion and Jason needs stitches. She and Zack both need X-rays. They are piled into the back of the ambulance and transported straight to Angel Grove General. Kim marches straight through the entrance without help much to the EMTs’ dismay and once she reaches the desk, where a harried old nurse is seated, she starts talking.

“I need to see my friend.”

“Unless your friend’s released information to you, I can’t even tell you whether or not she’s in the building.” The nurse sounds exhausted. This isn’t her fault. It’s a little bit of all of the five of theirs, but anger is bubbling beneath Kimberly’s skin and she smacks her palm on the desktop.

“She was probably unconscious when she came in, so I don’t think she could have given it. Can you just look up her name?”

Exasperated, the nurse starts typing. “What’s the name?”

Kim’s sure the woman is only humoring her, but she answers anyway. “Trini. Trini…” It’s then that Kimberly realizes she doesn’t even know the girl’s last name, that they’re barely acquaintances, that she really has no business being here in the first place.

“We have no one by that first name here.”

Kim’s too busy trying to rack her brain for the other name Mr. Lange had used. Trini’d corrected him that first day, hadn’t she? What was that name?

Suddenly, there’s a hand on her shoulder. Kimberly spins so fast and lands a solid slap to Jason’s chest before he can react and he breathes out a heavy sigh, like she’d physically knocked the wind out of him, but offers her a sad sort of smile. “The docs want to look at that ankle and the police are here.” He lowers his voice as he guides her back to the ER. “And Billy’s working on it.”

-

Kim doesn’t know how or when Billy Cranston learned to hack into a hospital’s patient database so that he could find Trini’s room, but she’s grateful for it. The boys ask if she wants company or awkwardly whether they should come, too, but Kimberly simply shakes her head and offers them a tiny, fake smile not unlike the one she wears so often in school. “No, it’s fine. Besides, four is easier to spot than one.”

Billy looks relieved. Zack is still pacing. Jason simply nods and gives her shoulder a little squeeze.

Kim squares her shoulders, ignores the pain in her braced ankle, and makes her way down the hallway. It’s not until she rounds the corner that she lets her guard down, lets a creased forehead and a frown replace that weak smile, lets her shoulders sag with the weight of what has happened, lets herself feel vulnerable.

The hospital is eerily empty right now. It’s change of shift, so the staff is off discussing patients, leaving the fluorescent lit hallways empty except for the odd patient walking laps with an IV cart. _305\. 306. 307._ The door is open, but the lights are off. The steady drone of a heart monitor makes Kimberly feel a little more at ease; Trini’s pulse isn’t jumping around erratically like hers is.

But Kim can’t make herself step into that room. Something about hospitals has always scared her. It’s not even like she had a bad experience in one. It’s just that it seems like anytime someone her parents know walks into one, they never walk out. She’s hovering outside of Trini’s room when someone with a food cart appears at the other end of the hallway. Kimberly knows that she’s less likely to get kicked out of the hospital if she’s not seen, so she ducks inside the room, back pressed against the wall, eyes jammed shut and breath held.

When the squeaky wheels of the cart start sounding farther away again, Kim lets herself breathe. She opens her eyes. And then she wishes she hadn’t.

Trini looks even smaller in the too-big hospital bed. She’s got a cast to the elbow of her right hand, several stiches in her forehead, and a split lip. There are a lot of tubes and wires poking out from beneath the blankets. She is impossibly still. Kim doesn’t think she’s ever seen Trini without that worn beanie on her head and her hair, while sleek and shiny, is a tangled mess across the pillow.

It’s only when her lungs start to ache that Kimberly realizes she must have started holding her breath again and takes a greedy gulp of air. Her legs are suddenly shaky, her limbs weak, and she drops into the chair at the side of Trini’s bed. She looks so pale. And impossibly young. Without really thinking about it, she reaches out to take Trini’s left hand between both of hers. Her skin is cold as ice and Kim gives her hand a firm squeeze. “You better be okay. I haven’t even met you yet.” Not really. They’ve had a handful of conversations and Trini pops up everywhere Kimberly seems to go, but they don’t _know_ each other.

Kim just hopes she gets the chance to do that.

-

The beeping wakes her up.

Kim doesn’t recall falling asleep, but she’s half draped over Trini, neck turned at an impossible angle, hand still interlocked with Trini’s when she is pulled out of sleep.

The once comforting, steady string of tones coming from the monitor is now sounding like it’s short circuited. Trini’s hand is even colder in Kim’s than it had been earlier, despite Kimberly never letting it go. Trini’s eyes are still closed, but she’s coughing hard enough to knock the oxygen tubing that had been in her nose out.

Suddenly, people are piling into the room. No one asks who she is, but someone shuffles Kimberly outside into the hallway as doctors and nurses crowd around Trini’s bed. Though she’s not touching her anymore, the chill from Trini’s fingers has now clawed its way to Kim’s heart. She feels like she can’t breathe, either, and without looking back, she leaves.

Her muscles ache and her injured ankle pulses in protest, but then she’s running, out of the hallway, past the waiting room where the three boys are still sitting, and out of the hospital entirely. Only once she’s outside can Kimberly breathe, the gasps shaking her entire body.

It’s cold out here, too, but Kimberly barely registers that it’s pouring down rain. Or that there’s someone behind her. The rain drowned out the footsteps.

“She’s gonna be okay,” he says, even though she can tell he doesn’t quite believe it. Zack offers her his coat and Kim puts it on, wrapping herself up in his words as much as the jacket. “Come on. The coffee doesn’t suck.”

-

Trini _is_ okay, if you can count unconscious and breathing normally _okay_.

No doctor tells them this. Billy’s still finding information on his phone and tells her so with a relieved smile and a few quick claps of her hands.

Kim can’t take it anymore, though, and chooses this exact moment to let the pressure that’s been building beneath her eyes since the accident leak through. The tears are silent but leave warm trails along her cheeks and Billy glances over his shoulder as it happens. Zack had to go home to check on his mom and Jason’s raiding the vending machine. He doesn’t really know what to do, so he does nothing. He does say something, though. He says a lot.

“You know, the last time I was here was when my dad died. The doctors are really good. They really made sure to do everything they could for him. But my dad, you know, he died in an accident out digging for stuff with me. I thought my mom would blame me, but she didn’t. She was just glad I was alright. And I don’t think she’ll blame us, either. We were all pretty stupid back there.”

Kim doesn’t know which part of that was calming, but just listening to someone else talk instead of the accusatory voices screaming in her head is a relief. The pressure is letting off as the tears fall and her headache is dissipating. It’s a little easier to breathe, too.

When Jason returns with sodas and snack cakes, they’re both asleep. Not touching, a seat between them, but turned towards one another, like the mere presence of another person is helping them both through.

He takes a seat on the opposite side of Billy, a seat between them, too, and settles in.

-

When Kim makes her way to room 307 in the morning, two little boys are tumbling out of it. “Boys please.” Their father stands at the foot of Trini’s bed looking exhausted and unsure. Glancing from the kids, who are fighting over what looks to be an action figure, and back again, Kimberly offers a smile and then steps into the doorway.

“Hey, you must be Trini’s dad…”

“I am. Are you…” Kim doesn’t miss the way his eyes go straight to the way she’s favoring her left ankle, the cuts and scrapes along her arms.

“We go to school together,” Kimberly replies, because that’s…really all it is. They’re not friends. They were lab partners, once, and they got caught up in whatever happened last night, but that’s it. The reason her chest aches when she looks over at Trini’s still sleeping form is because she feels guilty about the accident. Nothing more.

(…right?)

“Oh. Well, I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but…”

“Right. Do you want me to take them downstairs? There’s a waiting room with some games and I could use a distraction…” That comes out wrong, and Kimberly’s brows furrow as she tries to rearrange her thoughts into something that sounds less callous, but Trini’s dad is shaking his head and his shoulders relax. He looks about five years younger.

“That’d be great. Daniel! Diego! Listen to this nice girl, okay?”

The twins exchange a glance and Kim knows she’s in for a challenge, but she didn’t run her own babysitting business for three years for nothing.

-

It’s just her and the twins. The boys have all dispersed, back to their own families or, in Billy’s case, back to school (I have a Calculus test!). She swings by the cafeteria before they get to the waiting room with the toys and games.

“So how old are you guys?”

“We’re eight.”

“And you’re twins?”

“Yeah, but I’m older.” The shorter one says proudly, puffing out his chest. Kim can’t help but laugh.

“Shut up, Daniel.”

“Make me.”

“Hey, now. You know hospitals are where people come to heal, right? So we have to be really, really quiet.” The boys take this as a game and snap their mouths shut immediately, only pointing at the chocolate milk as they make their way through the line.

They’re silent all the way to the game room, and Kim receives no answer when she asks what they want to do. “Well, okay, we can just talk about boys and I’ll paint your nails, how’s that?”

“Can I have blue?”

“I want red.”

Kim quirks a brow and declares Diego the winner, much to his brother’s chagrin. Then, they settle in to work on a three hundred piece puzzle of Iron Man. They almost have the entire border complete when one of them, Daniel, she thinks, speaks up again. “Is our sister going to be okay?”

Kimberly drops the piece she’s holding to the floor with a dull clatter and steels herself to answer. “We’re just waiting for her to wake up.” It’s not a lie. It’s what she heard Trini’s dad and the doctor discussing while she herded the boys out of the room. Kim doesn’t want to lie to them. She doesn’t know what else is wrong with her, but Trini’s been unconscious for about a day now. She hit her head on the dashboard, the doctors think, so it’s not uncommon.

It doesn’t make it any less scary.

“Yeah, but is she okay? Can she hear us?” This time, it’s Diego, all big brown eyes and a trembling lip.

Kim abandons the puzzle in favor of sitting cross-legged on the floor and leans in towards the twins. “What do you guys like about your sister?”

“Trini’s smart.”

“And strong.”

“And funny.”

“And she’s always taking care of us.”

It makes Kim’s heart ache a little bit, but the smile she gives them is real. It even shows off those perfectly straight teeth (thanks, Dad’s money). “Sounds like the kind of person who fights, huh?”

“One time she beat up a kid for saying she was short.”

 A laugh bubbles forth before Kim can stop it. “Of course she did.” Kimberly’s not surprised. “Do you guys wanna go back and see her?”

They do, so they leave the unfinished puzzle for the next people to pass by this room, and with a brother taking either of her hands, Kimberly heads back to Trini’s room.

They’re eight years old, but the boys’ presence makes it somehow easier to walk back there where Trini is probably still asleep. They hold on tight and squeeze her hand, looking for support as well as offering it, and Kimberly feels stronger for having them. They might all share the fear of what they’ll find there, but these two also have a lot of hope in every step. Kim’s feeling a little more hopeful, too.

That hope settles in her chest like a bird finding its perch.

And when they turn the corner and hear it, Diego and Daniel let her go and go running for room 307. There are two voices coming from in there, and the little bird in Kim’s chest takes flight when she recognizes the tail end of “-totally fine, _Papi_.”

Kim hovers in the doorway, shoulder against the doorjamb, and lifts a shoulder in greeting. Trini pauses midway through a sentence to look at her, head cocked, and chuckles dryly. “What’re you doing here?”

Kimberly can’t blame here. It’s not like they’re friends. But she just shrugs, takes a step forward, and crosses her arms loosely around herself. She’s protecting herself…from what, she’s not entirely sure. Trini doesn’t know her well enough to hurt. (…right?) “We all wanted to make sure you were okay. The guys were here all night.”

Trini blinks from her to her brothers and back again. “I could really use a donut.” It makes Danny and Diego laugh and even gets a smile out of Trini’s father.

Kimberly cracks a small smile, too, and waves her goodbye. “I’ll see you guys.”

“ _Will_ we?”

Trini doesn’t know what she’s done with trying to get the last word in.

-

Everything aches.

It’s probably because she’s been sleeping in the same position for about 36 hours (nice) and is just now able to move, but her arm is useless with its broken radius and the gouge that goes from her hairline through her right eyebrow feel like it goes as deep as her skull, which is probably impossible. But it _hurts_ , even when she’s not doing anything.

Now, she can seem to sleep at all. No position is comfortable and there’s nothing good on TV to drown out the constant beeping of the monitor they still have on her. It’s like they’re afraid she’s going to flatline again even though she’s eaten twelve pudding cups and three peanut butter and jellies (hospital food sucks) and has made it to and from the bathroom on her own at least eight times.

And, to top it all off, there’s nothing on TV.

It’s just after six and Trini’s been poked and prodded more times than a pincushion and the sun has barely risen.

There’s a knock at the door. She can’t see who it is from this angle, but from what Trini’s gathered in her twelve hours of consciousness, doctors don’t knock. Nurses do. Her _Papi_ does, but her brothers are always catapulting into the room before he gets a chance.

(Her mom just doesn’t visit).

“Go away,” she grumbles, burrowing deeper into the scratchy blankets and rolling over so her back’s to the door.

“That’s no way to talk to someone bearing donuts.” The voice is only vaguely familiar to her, but Trini’s rolling over to size Kimberly up before she figures out who it is. She stares at her blankly but her mouth is already watering at the smell of the box of donuts Kim’s balancing on one hand. She has two coffee cups stacked on top of one another in the other. “Can you even have coffee?” Kimberly wonders aloud, but Trini is already lurching forward to snag one of the cups from her.

“I wasn’t sure how you took it, so yours is just black…” Trini spews hot liquid all over her blankets while Kimberly sets the bottom cup down on her tray. “That was probably my latte.” Trading the too-sweet drink for her own, Trini downs half a cup of coffee and a half a donut before saying anything. Kimberly’s hovering near the edge of her bed and, eventually, settles for sinking down on the edge of it so she can reach the donuts. That’s the only reason that makes any sense to Trini, though she _does_ have a concussion.

“What are you doing here?” Trini finally asks, breaking a chocolate donut in half and popping a bite into her mouth. There’s something like wariness in her voice, her brows creased, a deep line forming along her forehead, like she can’t comprehend why Kimberly Hart is in the same room as her and bringing her donuts.

To be honest, Kim’s not totally sure, either. She just knows that when she couldn’t find Trini in the van after it crashed, she felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. It had stayed that way until she and the boys had found her here, and it was still hard to catch her breath while she lay unconscious. It reminded her of the asthma attacks she’d had when she ran around too much as a kid, but there’d been no magical medicine to inhale to make it easier to breathe again. She’d only been able to catch it once Trini woke up. “Bringing you breakfast,” Kimberly says while reaching for a piece of the donut Trini’s eating and promptly taking a bite of it.

“Right, but why? You were here yesterday, too.” There’s something very guarded about those dark eyes. Kim’s taking in how they narrow, how there are dark circles beneath them, that Trini still looks very pale. “It’s not like we’re friends.” The sentence hangs between them awkwardly and Trini curses the beep of that monitor that kept her up all night. It reminds her that she’s still alive, but it also reminds her that her pulse definitely spiked upon seeing Kimberly in the doorway. Luckily, she can play that off as surprise at a near stranger entering her hospital room and not…something else.

Kim’s face falters but she’s quick to brush off the comment. “Look, we were together the night of the accident. You were the one who was the most hurt. We were worried.” It’s easier to pass it off on the group. It’s not a lie, really, just a slight burial of the full truth. Kimberly was the most shaken up after the wreck, but she’s not about to admit that. Not out loud, anyway.

“So you were guilty.”

“ _I_ didn’t drag you out there. It just sucked that you were in a coma.”

Trini considers this and then promptly flops back against her pillows, focusing on pulling apart a sprinkled donut now. She eats a piece and follows it with a sip of coffee. “Yeah, I had a pretty weird dream, actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. We were all superheroes in it. Had to save the world from a bitch who wanted to end the world in a Krispy Kreme.”

Kimberly laughs, high and long, and it makes Trini smile. “You’re only saying that because of the box.”

“I swear to God. We were all color coded.”

“What color was I?”

Trini doesn’t miss a beat. “Pink. Of course.”

-

Kim makes a habit of stopping at the hospital before school. Trini says the coffee there sucks, and it’s nice to know that she’s slowly but surely getting better. They’ve moved her to a step-down floor ( _“Whatever the hell **that** means,”)_, so it takes Kim a few extra minutes to find the right room.

When she does, she pauses just outside. There are raised voices coming from inside. One is most definitely Trini’s, though Kimberly can’t follow exactly what she’s saying. It’s all rapid-fire and in Spanish, and while Kim’s taken three years of the language, she’s never held a conversation that’s so fast or sounds so passionate. The second, raspier voice is easier to follow. It’s no less wavering, but the woman speaking is annunciating in that way parents do when they’re reprimanding their children. Kim catches the end of _and that’s that, Katrina_ before someone who must be Trini’s mother whips out of the room and slams right into her.

Hot coffee seeps through the thin material of her tanktop and Kimberly bites her tongue to keep from cursing as the hot liquid curls burning tendrils along her skin. Trini’s mother gives her a long, hard look, utters a terse apology, and stomps off down the hallway.

“Hurricane Maria got you, too, huh?” Trini says as soon as Kimberly walks into the room where she dumps her latte in the trash and hands over Trini’s miraculously preserved coffee and the bag of donuts. Kim’s shrugging out of her leather jacket before the remaining liquid stains it, leaving her in the damp tank. Trini’s careful to keep her gaze away from the nearly see-through material, but she can’t help but sneak a quick look. After all, she’s at a lower vantage point. It’s just physics. Once they’re eye-level it’s not as difficult to ignore the way the material clings to Kimberly’s body.

“What was all that about?” Kim mutters, trying to dab the stain out.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just the family disappointment as usual.” The way Trini says it is so casual it makes Kimberly pause in her frantic patting. Their eyes meet. Trini lifts her shoulders at the unasked question and changes the subject. Thankfully, Kim’s smart enough to take a hint and doesn’t ask again. “Papi brought some spare clothes. You can see if there’s anything that won’t get you banned by the fashion police if you want.”

This was, as it turns out, a bad idea. Kim has the decency to duck into the bathroom to shed her wet shirt for the soft, worn one of Trini’s, but Trini’s unprepared for the fact that Kim’s got a good five inches on her and that those five inches are now presenting themselves in the form of a thin strip of Kimberly’s stomach. Trini nearly chokes on her donut when Kimberly walks out and Kim’s brows knit together in concern. “Are you okay? Should I get a doctor?”

“Uh, no. I’m good.” To prove just how good she is, Trini shoves a couple of donut holes into her mouth to avoid having to say anything until she’s steadied herself. “Hey, don’t you need to get going?” The way Kim’s eyes widen when she glances at the clock on the wall is almost comical.

“Shit, yeah. I’ll see you later?”

“I’d be disappointed if I didn’t.”

-

“I’ll see you over there,” Jason calls as he gathers his tray and disappears toward their designated lunch table.

“Hey, Kimberly.” A beat. “I didn’t know you listened to them. Me too! They’re not really my usual thing, but they have a pretty diverse discography…” Kim blinks down at the shirt she’s wearing. There’s some text on it that Kimberly had taken for one of those crappy, random sayings from that cheap-but-trendy store in the Angel Grove Mall. Apparently it was a band. Billy’s looking at her expectantly and then Kim realizes she completely missed his question.

Zack materializes on her other side, stifles a laugh, and says “Yeah, Kim, what’s your favorite song?” There’s laughter in his eyes when their gazes meet and Kim _knows_ that _he_ knows.

“I can’t choose,” she says with a shake of her head.

Billy agrees. “There are a lot of good ones. I’ll be over there.” This is directed at Zack. When he does bother to show up for class, he’s taken to sitting with Billy and his friends. Not that Kimberly’s been keeping tabs on them or anything. Her usual spot between Jason and one of the other football players is waiting for her.

Zack doesn’t follow right away. He’s busy selecting a dessert from the shelf at the end of the cafeteria line. He finally settles on a slice of cake and turns to go. “Hey,” he throws over his shoulder, that mischievous smile taking up his whole face. “Nice shirt.”

Kim plays with the hem of her (Trini’s) shirt and frowns. How did he know?

-

When Kimberly arrives at the hospital the next day, Trini’s bed is empty. Fear sends her mind racing, the chill of it trailing down her throat and leaving a lump the size of a golf ball, and settles somewhere between her heart and lungs, making her pulse race and it hard to breathe. The bed is pristine again, the stark white blankets tucked up. Trini’s things are gone. Even the irritating heart monitor is gone, and Kim finds she misses it.

She abandons the coffee and donuts on the tray table and somehow finds her way to the nurses’ station. Her legs feel like Jell-o and she’s still trying to process. “Hi.” Her voice sounds very far away. It feels a little bit like she’s actually hanging from the ceiling, watching this conversation play out from far away. “My friend Trini’s not in her room?” It strikes Kimberly that she still doesn’t know her last name.

“You know I can’t release information to non-family members…” It sounds rehearsed. The woman barely glances up from her computer.

“I just need to know if she’s okay.”

Her voice must crack because the nurse finally looks up from her chart and fixes her with a sympathetic look. “Your friend is just fine. People leave this place in more ways than one, you know.”

Kim can breathe again.

-

Her head is throbbing. It aches with every beat of her heart. The loud pounding echoing through the living room isn’t helping. At first, she assumes it’s her brothers. Danny and Diego are constantly trying to play baseball in the house or pretending to be  superheroes, much to their parents’ dismay. But they should be at school. Papi is at work. Trini vaguely remembers her mother mumbling something about grocery shopping and disappearing for hours.

Is that hammering going on inside her head? She needs more Tylenol.

The curtains are drawn and she’s tangled up in a pile of blankets on the living room couch, the only light coming from the blueish glow of the television, which is playing a rerun of _Supergirl_. The knocking is getting progressively louder and more frantic, and as Trini’s coming out of the haze of sleep, she realizes that’s what it is: knocking.

“We don’t want any.” She mutters, mostly to herself, and forces herself to her feet. The weight of her casted arm is putting her of balance; she’s still getting used to it. And to top it off, she’s freezing. That might be the product of sleeping in shorts and a too-big t-shirt.

She swears to God if this is another Jehovah’s Witness trying to convert her she can’t be held accountable for her actions. She’s only vaguely and accidentally come out to her parents, but if there’s even a slim chance of scaring them off forever, she might just slip. When she pulls the door open, though, it’s not a religious group or a traveling salesman. “Don’t tell me. You missed me so much you had to come to my house.” Kimberly doesn’t even crack a smile. Trini leans against the doorway, arms crossed, showing off the dragon Diego had drawn on her cast in permanent marker when she does so. That’s what Kim’s looking at, not her face. “Whoa. Did someone run over your dog or something?”

That’s when her eyes snap up to meet Trini’s. “You could have texted me or something! I walked into that hospital room and you were just gone. What was I supposed to think?”

It’s not funny. Not really. But the high pitch of Kim’s voice and the way she’s flinging her hands about makes Trini chuckle anyway. That only gets her another glare. “Relax. I’m fine. And I probably should’ve texted you.” She just…didn’t realize she needed to. The last thing Trini expected was for Kimberly to continue checking up on her once she was discharged. It’s nice, in a confusing sort of way. The tension in Kim’s shoulders melts almost immediately at the not-quite apology. Her eyes soften. Her teeth unclench. She uncrosses her arms.

“…where’s the coffee?”

“I’m not your personal breakfast machine, you know.”

“You have me convinced.” Trini pauses, looking over her shoulder and into the house. With a sigh, she steps aside to invite Kimberly inside, if she wants. “Did you come here just to make sure I wasn’t dead, then?”

Kim presents her with her folded and freshly washed band t-shirt. “Nope.” Trini takes it back and automatically unfolds it, draping it over her shoulder instead.

“…did you want to come in or…?”

“Sure. If you want.”

Trini surprises herself with the answer. “Yeah, I don’t care.” Which is kind of a lie. She does care. And she’s kind of glad Kim said yes.

-

They fall asleep halfway through a movie that Trini picked. It’s one of those cult, independent movies that she’s seen a hundred times, and she hasn’t been sleeping well lately. With Trini’s warmth pressed into her side, it’s not long before Kimberly drifts, off, too. This couch is way too comfortable and Trini’s steady breaths are enough to lull her off to sleep, too.

This is how her father finds them two hours later. The twins come tumbling into the house and he shushes them before herding them out the back door. He recognizes the girl curled up to his daughter from the hospital, and though there are a million questions burning in his mind, he knows that Trini needs the rest.

So he goes outside to play soccer with his sons and leaves his daughter to heal instead.

-

If it’s even possible, they end up closer as the afternoon wears on. Kim winds up laying on her back, head cushioned on the arm of the couch, and Trini’s on her side, curled into Kimberly’s warmth, pillowed on Kim’s chest. There’s a blanket over them, too, so the way Trini’s fingers are clinging to the hem of Kim’s shirt is hidden from view, but what Trini’s mother sees is enough to make her drop the bags she’s carrying.

“What on earth.”

The crash wakes both girls with a start. Kimberly wonders how she didn’t notice the weight of Trini as she slept. “Uh. Hey, there…”  Trini, though, is slower to react, a sleepy blink and a shy smile her only response.

The next few minutes pass in a flurry of quick Spanish. Trini’s on the other side of the couch in two seconds, flat, when she registers that her mom is in the room. The two exchange angry words and before long, mother is standing over her daughter and Trini can’t have that, so she’s standing, too. Kimberly’s trying to follow the conversation, but her brain’s still asleep. Plus, they’re talking so fast that it’s hard to concentrate on a single phrase.

Still, there’s no mistaking the anger behind her mother’s words by the flash of her eyes or the set of her jaw. And Trini just looks…sad. There’s an incline to her shoulders despite the defiant tip of her chin and clenched fists. Her jaw trembles when the words stop and Kim feels a surge or protectiveness over this girl welling up again.

“Maybe I should go,” she says into the heavy silence that has covered the room. It’s like they both must have forgotten she was even there, because both women turn to her with expressions of surprise. Kimberly stands, slides her shoes onto her feet, and reaches for her car keys. Before she makes another move, she meets Trini’s gaze and sees a storm of indecision. Pain, embarrassment, and betrayal all swirl in that one look. “You coming?” Kim extends a hand.

For a moment, Kimberly thinks Trini’s going to say no. She looks to her mother helplessly and drops her gaze to her socked feet. But then she crosses the room in two quick strides, slides her hand into Kim’s, and says “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

So they do. Kim doesn’t bother to glance back.

Trini does, though. It’s a terrible habit, but the disappointment in her mother’s eyes is enough to make her move more quickly, at least.

-

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No.” It’s the easy answer, but it’s the truth. Trini doesn’t know how to explain what just happened. She’s not even sure what she is, yet, so she doesn’t know why her mom’s so sad. Except she does. There’s an image she’s supposed to uphold, the perfect family with the perfect lives that fit into cooke-cutter holes without a hitch.

But Trini’s never fit that model. Not when she wanted to learn karate instead of taking gymnastics when she was six. Not when she wanted to buy boys’ shirts because they were more comfortable when she was eleven. And definitely not when she commented, in the smallest voice, that she might like girls.

That was the last time she shared anything significant with her mother. Trini’s not going to risk seeing her mother’s face fall like that again or the punch to the gut that expression gave her. Especially since she doesn’t even know what she wants.

Kim just nods and turns the radio up. She doesn’t press. She doesn’t try and coax and explanation out of her. She just keeps driving, sings along softly to the radio, and steals glances at Trini at every traffic light. Trini aches, and it’s got nothing to do with the injuries from the accident. Her head is pounding, but not from the concussion. This is the type of headache she gets when she’s trying not to cry, but the coolness from the car window soothes it slightly.

Kim’s hand in hers soothes it even more.

-

“Why are we here?”

“My parents are home. Besides, I thought you could use some space.” Trini’s eyes narrow as she climbs out of the car after Kimberly. They’re near the mines, where all of this started, but on the right side of the gate so they can’t get arrested for being out here, even at night.

“You have a weird way of comforting people,” Trini complains, looking around for Kim and realizing she can’t see her anywhere. “Okay, if you’re trying to scare me it’s not going to work, Kim.” Trini rotates on the spot and finds that Kimberly isn’t hiding, not really, but that she’s perched on the roof of her car. With a sigh, she scrambles up the hood and joins her, sitting close but not _too_ close. There’s a bit of space between them, but Trini hasn’t changed her clothes and the metal of the car is cold on her bare legs.

“Shut up. There’s just a better view of the stars out here.” Trini can’t deny that. When she tears her attention away from Kim, the stars do sparkle with a beautiful light. It’s part of why she hangs out here anyway. She feels less suffocated surrounding by rocks and stars than by her family, even _if_ Zack Taylor spends his free time here, too. But before long, Trini’s looking at Kimberly again. She’s careful about it, using sidelong glances and making sure Kimberly’s looking elsewhere, but she can’t help it. Kim’s beautiful, and there’s something about the moonlight that suits her.

She gets caught, but Kim’s lips just twist in a smile before she looks back to the sky. Wordlessly, she moves closer as Trini shivers, their bodies touching from their shoulders down. This makes another shudder run up Trini’s spine that has little to do with the cold. In fact, Kim’s warmth is enough to make her forget they’re sitting on the icy roof of Kim’s BMW.

Sometimes, silence is the best conversation. No one else seems to get that.

Kimberly does.

-

Kim’s not sure what makes her do it. Maybe it’s the conversation she overhead. Maybe it’s the weird, fluttering feeling in her chest that’s been growing since she started visiting Trini in the hospital. Maybe it’s just because Trini looks so damn pretty bathed in the light of the moon. (It’s probably a combination of all three.)

Whatever the reason, she hooks her fingers under Trini’s chin and leans over to steal a kiss. It’s soft and tender and a little bit awkward, noses bumping and lips searching, but so unlike the rough, messy ones Kim’s shared with her ex. Trini tastes like strawberry Chapstick and cinnamon and something that must just be _Trini_ that Kim could waste days trying to describe in untidy song lyrics.

And Trini doesn’t pull away. In fact, she leans into it, wraps a hand around the back of Kimberly’s neck, and kisses back

“Well,” she says when Kim breaks the kiss, their foreheads still touching. “That’s new.”

-

Trini makes it back to school two days later, and it’s no easier than before the accident. There are still whispers behind her back, this time of what she did to earn the scar across her forehead and the broken arm. But that’s not all her classmates are whispering about. Kimberly’s waiting for her when she arrives at Angel Grove High and she breaks away from the pack of cheerleaders and football players to meet her halfway. She offers a hand and Trini takes it, tries to ignore the ripple of murmurs it causes, the eyes on their backs as they walk to class.

But Kim gives her hand a squeeze and Trini feels grounded once more.

She doesn’t really care what the other kids think (she does, but she tells herself it doesn’t _really_ matter). She’ll take the whispers, though, if it means she gets the anchor of Kim’s hand in hers. “You okay?” Kimberly asks, voice low and incredibly sincere.

“I will be.”

It’s not a lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so there you have it! another no-powers AU with a little spin. i didn't even mean to do it this way, but it looks like kim's the one going for it. again. very little proofreading...with the last chapter, i went back and edited about a day after it was originally posted, so that might happen here, too. i've got the outline for the next chapter down and i'll tease that it's probably not what you're expecting. i'm glad i managed to weave all three guys in here a little bit. leave comments or kudos if you want! thanks so much for reading. i'm obsessed with these two and each chapter seems to be getting longer...hope that's not a problem x)


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